Recently, though, the 63-year-old Almodóvar seems to be returning to his rascally roots. 2011's "The Skin I Live In" was a twisted, mad-scientist tale, and his latest, "I'm So Excited!," is a gaudy comedy that's as close in tone to his first films than anything in years. It falls short, though, and ends up a pleasant, mildly outrageous diversion at best.

Due to the bumbling of a couple of ground crew members (amusing cameos from Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz), a flight from Madrid to Mexico City ends up circling the skies above Spain, burning off fuel before attempting a controlled crash. On board, a trio of flamboyantly gay flight attendants (Carlos Areces, Javier Cámara and Raúl Arévalo) try to manage their personal crises and their passengers. Luckily, all of economy class has been slipped Mickeys, but the business class travelers (including Almodóvar regulars Cecilia Roth and Lola Dueñas) are still a handful, each freaking out in their own, often carnally based, manner at the prospect of mortality.

As the cabin stewards freely dole out booze, and eventually mescaline, inhibitions shrivel and secrets tumble forth, sometimes in air-to-ground phone conversations that, due to a glitch, the entire plane can hear. Some of the bits solidly hit, including the attendants' lip-synched rendition of the eponymous Pointer Sisters tune. More often than not, though, the gags strike a glancing blow at best, and one culminating encounter veers creepily toward condoning a sexual assault, but without even the cheeky self-awareness of "Kika."

The movie's fast pace, and the three gleeful central performances, keep "I'm So Excited!" mostly painless. But the rest of it has a whiff of the sort of desperation that can make an exclamation point in a title seem like a good idea.